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Because as of yesterday, our beloved Boobles was promoted to Guild Leader, I felt now was the best time ever to finish on a post that’s been saved in my drafts for quite some time.

For the past two years, I’ve filled almost every role in a guild in WoW. I’ve been the newbie player who didn’t know anything, I’ve been the semi-experience member who mostly kept to myself, I’ve been the obnoxious veteran who didn’t hesitate to butt her nose into officer business and try to help, I’ve been the frantic officer running around with my head cut off, and finally… I’ve been the regretful guild master who wished she could’ve kept it all together, in game and in real life.

After all this, maturing in game and IRL, it’s taught me that a guild leader takes a very special person, a person I learned that I myself wasn’t qualified for.

Not just anyone can run up, start a guild, and expect people to join and be merry till the end of game. You can’t much expect that in real life; can’t start a business and expect all your first employees to stay till retirement. Being through walks of life through WoW and in real life, here is Mika’s Socializing 101: Guild Leadership Guide.

But they don’t realize the PERSON behind that title is just as inportant as the ROLE they’re filling.

Jeon Rezvani wrote a book called Guild Leadership: Lessons from the Virtual World. Jeon is an IT Senior Manger, and a gaming fanatic. Combining his real life leadership lessons and his virtual leadership lessons, this is a very informational book. More information can be found here.

One last final helpful resource for new and upcoming potential Guild Leaders is this. Warcraft Hunters Union posed a good question, and got amazing responses. What do you, the people, WANT in a guild Leader? Browsing this post will also help you in understanding if you are the type who CAN successfully lead a guild.

First a foremost, every guild leader needs to understand, and mostly accept, that they will be, for always and forever, the top of the ranks, the leader, the go to person above all other people. They will be constantly under the miscroscope by the members; every move, decision, word will be microanalyzed, and while as there will be many friends to be made, there will also be enemies.

This seems to be the hardest aspect of being a guild leader to grasp. It’s hard to put 110% of your time and effort in game, and occationally IRL, for your guild to work, only to see people become upset, and leave… some of these people you call friends.

I hope this guide will help those people who want to make it work, through thick and thin, and avoid as many unecessary quits as possible.

For starters, There are many ways to run a guild. Many, many combinations of ranks to choose from. There’s a council system, a partnership system, but this guide will primarily be fore a Monarch/Presidential System where there is one GM, one Decision Maker, one Rule All.

This is where I shall hold off and postpone part 2 for tomorrow. The reason I break it up is so the information is easier to digest. Part 2 will be much lengthier than part 1, so my advice is to read up on the resources I’ve posted above, and get familiar to the setting.

Woot, it’s 12-something AM, I haven’t posted in like… ages… and suddenly something hits me as I sit in my livingroom on my couch because I can’t sleep for some god-forsaken reason.

I wonder what my guildies were like back in highschool… like… what stereotype would they fall under?

So here’s what stereotypes I believe a few of my guildies would’ve fallen under.

Starting at the top of the list is Mach.Guild Master, cool guy. His job takes a special kind of person what I sometimes don’t believe even he is qualified to do.He puts up with his own shit, then my shit, then the guilds shit… lawl.

Sad thing is, he told me what he was like in highschool, so as much as he doens’t count, he was the geeky kid who was into games and anime, has a small group of friends, a bit of a slacker, reletively anti-social out of a virtual environment, mature for his age, and tried his hand at being a badass but failed miserably. What do we call this?

The Dork.

Second in line, ZojaMr. Cranky Tank as we known him so lovingly by, he is our progression raid leader. Cool guy… when he wants to be. He makes his own job hard by himself, let alone the other 24 people helping.

My impression of our wonderful raid leader in highschool is that big scary kid who was bigger, taller, and more intimidating than your parents. He basically just had to look down at you and your measly little 5’5″, and you’d piss yourself a little. But if you knew him, you’d know that he talks too much, and likes being the center of attention. A bit of a short temper, but inside a big fuzzy bear. Better known as…

That One Guy

On to AtrpousSecondarly Raid Leader, back up support, meat shield number two. Andy is the back up dependent when Zoja isn’t around.

Atropus is… unique… to say the least. (<3) He’s the kind of kid that looks like he’s gonna bust out a sawed off shot-gun and start blowing heads. But don’t be fooled, because he’s about as harmful as a baby bunny(withrabies*cough*) At times he’s quiet, and then get him going and he’s like the fucking juggernaut… going on and on and on and on and on and on and… you get it. He likes to talk. But when the subject is over… it’s like someone gagged him. Kinda weird, and a little loud, even though he doens’t mean to be, he’s a good guy all around… you just have to get past that homicidal maniac look first. I give you…

The Weirdo.

I’ll have fun with this one, Hunt…

Don’t… really know what he’s for. He was originally SUPPOSED to lead back up raids for under geared guildies… but he’s just kinda… there now.
Hunt is simply put… like that annoying little brother you wish your parents never had that drunken night in vegas. He’s smart, too smart for his own damn good, book smart… but no common sense what-so-ever. Doesn’t think before he speaks, and often gets his own ass into trouble, without anyone helping. He tries to make up for it by being a smart ass, but fails… over and over again. Boy needs to stick to be books because he’s…

The Socially Inept Kid.

I’ve been saving the best two for last, hehehehehehehe…. *evil grin*

Because I couldn’t decide who to actually be last last… I flipped a coin and up next is KyKy.Ky is the glue that holds all of the officers’ sanity together. He’s the guy we go to when we need to ask for help, advice, etc in or out of the game. He’s had previous officer experiences, and being a but older and wiser, he tends to… you know… know more than us kiddies.

Granted, I’ve never met Ky in person. Seems like a really cool guy though through the interwebs. Ky is like that cool, laid back kid who gets along with like… everyone. He’s a people person. He’s not too competetive, not greedy, he’s a good guy. Helps when he can, more than what he should, sometimes, and rarely asks for anything in return. Granted… at times I believe he could feel no remorse in blowing up a hospital, I still think he’s generally…

The Nice Guy

Lastbut certainly not least, Amber…Our lovely recruiting officer, big sister, and slave driver, Amber is the one who herds all the little kitties we know as new recruits, and directs them on what to do, and how to do it in regards to policies and procedures in BoO. Not to mention… she’s like the only one who can keep Mr. Cranky Tank in check.

Lawl, don’t eat me Amber or poison my food tomorrow. Amber is like a big sister to the guild… sometimes now in a good way. Sure she can be that cool big sis that looks out for you, or somethings that evil big sis who laughs as her giant foot of GKICK comes crashing down on you. Slightly tempermental like her squeeze, she’s a cookie. She’s smart… but a smart ass. Sometimes taken the wrong way, she’s not a snob or anything of such; as she likes to say, she holds people to the same standards that she holds herself. A.K.A.

Once again, I must extend my deepest, and most sincerest apologies to you all. Recently, at work, they’ve cracked down and completely blocked all external internet sites, and on top of that, run regular scheduled centerwide scans for any open browser that bypasses the firewall. Seeing as work was my primary place of blogging adventures because typically when I get home, I’m swamped with like… everything… I haven’t had much time, if any, to post anything remotely interesting.

In my folder, I’ve got tons of screenshots, quotes, Socializing 101 ideas, and all around qwirky randomness everyone I know loves and enjoys. I promise I’ll be able to pick it up once again when the insanity in my life starts to die down. But till then, here’s a summary of what you’ve missed.

Mika’s Top 10 This Week:

1. Amber is still a noob.
2. The guild downed Mimiron, Vezax, and got Yogg into phase 2 before we started having problems.
3. I’ve rolled 3 new toons. 2 on the Earthen Ring server, look for Reikyva (58- Nelf DK) or Ryni (5-Nelf Rogue) if your interested for some fun RP, or Sylvyya (5-Belf Rogue) on Cenarion Circle ^_~
4. Reì on Azgalor has been racking achievements left and right and occationally topping charts.
5. My RP blog still isn’t quite finished yet, still putting the final touches on that one too.
6. Thanks to Tharion Greyseer he’s helping me get some reference points to get a possible career in writing off the ground, so I’m looking into that.
7. I’m getting ready for the big move, leaving on October 1st (Yay!)
8. Guild Drama has escalated through the roof because of a particular Hunter who is the single most egotistical, self-centered, rude, arrogant, piece of sixteen year old shit I’ve ever met.
9. Mika finally did ToC 10 man with a pug who one shot everything but faction champtions. (We had no mages, no locks, no hunters… virtually no CC. BURN THE DPS!!)
10. Did I mention Amber is still a noob?

There it is, folks… Mika’s Top 10 You Missed this week.

Disclaimer: I’ll be going into further details in the near future regarding some points… Amber’s failsauce… self-explainitory.

Once again, thank you thank you soooo much for being patient with me, and I’m soooo sorry for slacking. Point and laugh… I’m a scrub, lol.

Last night we had our official guild reform meeting. For the most part, most of our members were able to make it. We did have a few who had RL issues come first, but we all know the cardinal rule of MMO gamming. For those who weren’t able to make it, myself and the officers will be filling them in on the details to what happened.

During the meeting, we discussed issues from the guild ranks, the mass gquits, the gbank access, progression raiding, and future expectations from the members in the guild.

Now, it’s far FAR too extensive to go into great detail about what was said, but when we asked feedback from the members, those who spoke up agreed that the changes in the guild were for the better of the guild seeing as we are no longer going to solely categorizing ourselves as a pure social guild, and we are moving farther into considering ourselves as a progression guild.

A few of the major changes included the revocation of gbank privileges from veterans in the guild. Because of the insertion of the new rank “Core Raider”, the veteran access has been moved to this rank. Veterans, like members and recruits, have no gbank access, and cannot view the higher quality items.

Now, a “Core Raider” is a position that has to be inquired about to show you are interested and can commit to most of the 9 standards of a “Core Raider” in the officer’s eyes. This rank has some gbank access, and can view the higher quality items in the gbank. This spot also guarantees you a spot in progression raids, but, if a time comes to where it is seen you can’t meet most of the 9 standards of a core raider, the rank will be revoked.

The 9 standards include:

1.) You demonstrate a solid understanding of how BoO runs work. (Loot rules, Policies)
2.) You come to raids prepared, repairs, with whatever you need.
3.) You pay attention and do as you are told durring progression raids. Stay on task.
4.) You do not come to raids late without notifying an officer ahead of time.
5.) Your gear is 100% gemed, enchanted, and you have a solid working understanding of your class and spec.
6.) You understand that the raid is not just about YOU, there are 24 other people there working hard. So pull your own weight, Do not get carried.
7.) You are comfortable with “taking charge” of the situation and/or raid. Meaning, there may come a time with I cannot attend a raid, that doesn’t mean you don’t go. It means 1, 2, 3, or even 10 Core raiders get together and pull the group together, lead the raid in the same manner in which I or an officer would.
8.) You have an open and compatable raid availability. (Meaning you know ahead of time if you can make a raid, and you can join us for atleast 2 nights a week if needed)
9.) You maintain a POSITIVE attitude, wipes happen, people get frustrated, but saying “Fuck this” and hearthing is a bad idea.

*Note* With this rank comes a higher expectation for Gbank donations. Remember kids, the bank exists to help progress our guild, but it doesn’t stock itself.

Right now members are going through an evaluation to see who would/can meet the criteria of a ‘core raider’.

Officer positions took a startling blow below the waist… they promoted Ky and myself as officers, lawl. Now every officer has a tank and a healer (I think with the exception of one, Amber’s boytoy –correct me if I’m wrong Amber-). We are the TankHealers and the HealingTanks, haha. 😛

Gbank was also reorganized due to the rank changes mentioned above.

This is the brief, brief, brief rundown of the changes. Last night in vent took about half an hour to go through them in immense details, but we all appreciated the clarification. As I said, the member’s who made the meeting last night all seemed to welcome the changes with an optimistic outlook, and they understand why they’re being put in place.

Hopefully with these changes we can straighten up the guild and get back into the swing of things. We’ve had a staggering blow or two in the past few weeks, but we’re tough cookies, we’re pushing forward, revamping, and we’re building on a strong foundation to be something great. At this point, it’s only a matter of time before we’re punching Yogg in the face with 25 people all sporting the name Brotherhood of Oblivion above their heads proudly.

For anyone who ever played the old Croc games, you remember when he did his cool little spinney-chuck-norris-wanna-be-roundhouse-kick thing he always said “Ker-Chow!!” That was my favorite, yeah.

Well… this weekend I delivered my own Croc kick to WoW and did a little “Ker-Chow!”… WoW then turned around and Croc Kicked me.

Friday night when I got home from my OT, I sat and looked at my shaman who was sitting at level 78 ½ with a full amount of rested XP till 80. I looked at the clock, and decided that this weekend… she was going to be 80 damnit! So I decided that, for the weekend, Mika was going to be put on stand-by and it was going to be Rei’s weekend.

From about 7-12PM I managed to get her to 79. (It took me a while because I kept having to go AFK for one thing to another. /facepalm.) But before I went to sleep that night, I decided that I was going to get up early, and do nothing all day Saturday until she hit 80.

It was about 9:30 when I started, and by 12 I had gotten halfway. So far so good. By the time I reached 95% I had ran out of quests in Storm Peaks… and I hate Icecrown… so what do I do? It took about 10 minutes of mod butchering in a high spawn area, but I finally got…

**<>**

by about 4 PM. So what’s the first thing I do?

**<>**

Finally… she was ready for heroics whoring.

Or so I wished.

I spent all of Saturday night, and all day Sunday dedicating it to my shaman and trying to get her geared, but I have all of 5 purples to show for it. Granted, a little frustrated is definitely the understatement of the situation, but unfortunately I have no control over RNG when I 1. Lose gear, 2. can’t beat the door boss, 3. Can’t get a group because no one wants to compete with a noob for gear AND deal with the door boss.

I tried running a Naxx 10, but Mach wanted to bring a Hunter and another Resto shaman… so needless to say, if I rolled enhancement, I had to roll against an under geared hunter. If I wanted to roll resto, I would have to roll against an under geared shaman. I couldn’t win for lose if my life DEPENDED on it.

So yeah…. The beginning of this weekend was good, the end… not so much.

I have an issue when it comes to my toons. I hate it when my toon is considered ‘under geared’. When Mika hit 80, I was pulling tricks out my ass to put groups together for Naxx and heroics. I wanted her gear BAD. Same with Rei, I want her gear BAD. It bothers me if my toons can’t commit to the content I want them to be able to comfortably walk into.

I want Rei to be able to comfortably walk into a Naxx 25 or Ulduar 10. Yeah, pretty big jump for a fresh 80 not even 3 days old. Her walking around with a green trinket from level 65 I was never able to replace bothers me to the point of I won’t even TOUCH my druid until Rei is geared to the point of my approval.

Even if I have to sit and run heroics day in and day out to get 500 emblems to replace all the greens and blues on her, I will do it. I got over 1000 on Mika so far, I have no issues in farming heroics for lower easy raids for gear. 1. It gives me a chance to get gear for both specs 2. it’s good practice.

Right now, Mika’s time on her game card ran out on Saturday. For the time being… I’m not sure if I should bother re-subbing her for a while because I know in the mean-time, I’m going to be spending most, if not all, of my time on Rei. Granted the guild is still doing Ulduar 10, but I know there are a few healers in the guild who would be more than happy to take my place who actually need the gear.

In other news…

Tomorrow BoO is having a guild meeting where Mach will be announcing the guild changes that he and the officers are making to the guild to give it a more ‘casual progression raiding guild’ feel. I for one am very excited to hear about it. (I’m his GF and I’m still in the fog about certain details, but meh… I’m only a veteran, not an officer. I have to be reminded where my place is from time to time with this kind of stuff to avoid someone calling the ‘favortism’ card. /grumble) But right after the announcement, they’re going to be heading off to ToC 10 man, woot!!

With them luck.

Oh… by the way… on a side note…

I saw Ky and Amber do it a few time, so I’ll go ahead and shoot my own two cents in…

BoO is recruiting… we love long walks in Naxx, and cruising through Ulduar in our giant demolishers. In our spare time we like to farm heroics for badges, sit in vent and chat, and pick on Amber because she sounds like her sister. We’re looking for someone who is funny, witty, and can keep up with the jokes on our resident minor Hunt who takes a beating on a daily basis. If you think you’re this person, you can view our profile at BoO Match-Maker.com.

**<>**
Because filters at work suck, I’m uploading the screenies at home during lunch. =D

Are you new to the game and looking for friends? Did you server transfer looking for a better end game raiding guild? I bet you and a group of friends are looking for that perfect glove fit in a guild that suits your needs? Well this is Mikata’s guide of what to do when looking for a guild to after joining a guild and becoming familiar with your new family. Welcome to Socializing 101: Joining a guild.

Looking for a Guild

Whether you’re new to the game, a fresh 80, or a spanking new server transfer, the aspects when looking for a guild is all the same. The only difference is the criteria in said guild that you’re looking for. Are you looking for a casual RP guild? Maybe a PvP guild? Social guild? End content hardcore raiding guild? This is the first thing you need to ask yourself is what exactly you’re looking for.

Other things include:
Do I want to be casual or hardcore?
Am I looking for a specific type of loot system?
Will I enjoy a specific planned RP event?
What about pug or member policies for runs?

But what defines ‘Casual’ from ‘Hardcore’?

There is a very VERY thin line that separates a casual player from a hardcore player. The best way to clarify which category you fall under is to look at the schedule the guild is running that you are interested in joining.

You decide what is too casual or hardcore for you. If a group is only running 2 days a week and you want to do 4, then they’re too casual for you. If another group is running 7 days a week but you still only want to do 4, then they’re too hardcore for you. Don’t bend yourself and commit to something you know you won’t be satisfied with.

Once you find the specific type of guild you want, do research on different guilds on your server. Browse through forums, blogs, and even ask around in game. 90% of the time, if you see someone in a particular guild you’re interested in just standing around, they wouldn’t mind answering a few questions regarding where to find a guild website, or to point you in the right direction of an officer who you can speak further with.

Be sure to get all your fact straight and evaluate what would best suit your needs before making a commitment.

Applying and Interviewing

Depending on the type of guild, most have an application and interview process to ensure a few things.

1.) You have a broad understanding of the guild and its policies.
2.) You understand and can commit to raid/RP event dates.
3.) You are competent regarding your class and spec
4.) If you have any experience regarding raids and end game content
5.) That you’re not a total and complete asshole.

To avoid looking like a jackass, this is why you need to do your research and know about the guild you’re applying to. When you make this commitment to join a guild, the GM, officers, and other members are putting their faith and trust in you, a complete stranger, to be honest and trustworthy to uphold their policies and reputation, to sport that flashy family title under your name.

Important Note:

Do not make a commitment you know you cannot uphold. If you are applying to a guild that raids 6 days out of the week and are doing t9 content, but you know that you can only free up 3 days of your week for raiding, this not only hinders the guild, but more greatly yourself. If you know you can’t commit to those raid days, then that’s a spot that the guild is still going to have to fill. More than likely on the days you can raid will be continuations, and the guild will only take those who can make that full commitment.

You never catch up to the guild content, and you will still wind up pugging the rest of your runs until you realize that this guild wasn’t right for you, and then you have to start the whole process over again.

”You have been invited to join the guild…”

Congratulations, you’ve successfully found a guild that you know you can commit to. They raid/RP the same days you do, they’re working the same content you can, they follow a loot system you agree with, they have policies you can support, hey… they shoe fits, right? Well that was the easy part.

What!?

Yup, all of this was the easy part, now you get to the harder, longer, more complicated process.

You’ve joined the guild, all fun and dandy. Now you have to mingle.

The hardest part of the process in joining a guild is making friends and mingling with the rest of the members. Some people in a guild will be outgoing and friendly. They’ll say hello and welcome you, but the responsibility of becoming a ‘guildie’ is your job, not the guild’s. You are the one that has to make an effort in being social.

When you log on, say hello in Gchat or OoC chat. If there’s a ventrilo server, log in and jump into a channel, say hey to everyone and ask about their day. Don’t isolate yourself. This is the most common case of member’s who quit guilds because they don’t feel ‘welcome’. Well it’s hard to ‘welcome’ someone who doesn’t want to be ‘welcomed’.

If you show an interest in getting to know your new guild mates, they will show the same general interest in getting to know you. Break the ice, crack a joke, tell them a funny scrubalicious moment you’ve done recently, after the first few minutes, everyone will start warming up to one another and everything will resume as normal laughing and joking.

You’ll eventually see a change, instead of you saying hey first, they will say hello to you when you log on, they’ll ask you to run with them, and then you know you’ve completely completed the process of joining a guild. So go forth, be fruitful, be happy… and remember, an MMO is about socializing… or else you’d be playing an RPG.